Why God Said Let Us Make Man and Consulted the Angels

"And God said: Let us make man" (Genesis 1:26). To whom did He say it? To the angels, who are spirits; therefore He took counsel with them in the creation of man. And do not be astonished, for everything that the Holy One, blessed be He, does with the children of men, He takes counsel with the angels. So too Micaiah said to Ahab, "I saw the Lord sitting upon His throne, and all the host of heaven," etc., "and the Lord said: Who shall entice Ahab," etc. (1 Kings 22:19-20). And when the Holy One, blessed be He, told Moses our teacher to write the Torah, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: Moses, write "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." He said before Him: Master of the Universe, why do You give an opening to the heretics to say that there are two powers? The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: Write what I tell you, and whoever wishes to err, let him err; for from Me all who come into the world shall learn that if a great one comes to do a thing, he should take counsel from a lesser one, for behold, I, when I came to create man, took counsel with My ministering angels. Another interpretation: "And God said: Let us make man," etc. With whom did He take counsel? With the Torah did He take counsel, for all its commandments gave Him counsel that he should create man, as it is said, "Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom" (Proverbs 8:14). "In our image" (Genesis 1:26): that he should have the spirit of life. "After our likeness": that he should have wisdom and understanding, from the wellspring of the wisdom above; and as you say, "Yet You have made him but little lower than God, and have crowned him with glory and honor" (Psalms 8:6) — this refers to the day of death, when he shall behold the glory of the Creator. "And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea" (Genesis 1:26): because he had wisdom and understanding to recognize his Creator, therefore He gave him the ability to rule over His creatures.